Head smart, heart happy: as consumer's demand for more healthful fare gets pumping, culinary schools heed the call and prepare nutrition-conscious chefs

Nation's Restaurant News, April 7, 2003 by Dina Berta

Quail was the obvious choice. Game birds are naturally lean and have wonderful flavor, reasoned 17-year-old Carmine Peluso when he picked his main in redient for a recipe to enter in Johnson & Wales University's annual National High School Recipe Contest.

Peluso's roasted quail stuffed with wild grains, dried black figs and chestnuts took first place in the healthful family dinner category in last month's competition, earning him a four-year scholarship to the university.

The North Tahoe High School senior will leave his home in Kings Beach, Calif., this fall for Providence, R.I., to pursue a culinary degree, whose requirements will include courses designed with the public's concern over obesity, heart disease and health problems related to diet in mind.

With the foodservice industry's burgers, fries, pizzas and cream-covered pasta dishes under attack by consumers and watchdog groups, culinary schools nationwide are preparing their students to meet the demand for more healthful menu choices they will encounter as the industry's future chefs, owners and company officials.

While nutrition courses always have been a standard requirement for accredited institutions, schools and universities are increasing opportunities for students to apply practically what they are learning through classes and internships and even creating degrees with a nutritional focus.

Such knowledge is necessary, according to instructors, because lawsuits blaming restaurants for health problems and legislation, like that requiring chains to post nutritional information now pending in New York, are not going to disappear any time soon.

"Back in the dark ages when I was in culinary school, we learned salt, sugar and fat are what makes everything taste good," says Doug Fisher, a chef-instructor at Spokane Community College in Spokane, Wash. "What I've seen in my career is we've moved toward more healthful cooking in general and learned to make food taste as good. Our students are learning to make sauces and garnishes that are low in fat and to eliminate or reduce saturated fats as much as possible."

Johnson & Wales began offering a culinary nutrition degree program three years ago. The first year 33 students enrolled. Enrollment is now up to 200 students.

"I think the degree makes me, as a chef, more valuable," says Jeremy Bringardner, who was in the department's first graduating class. "It's been a slow movement, but I think in the next 10 years, you'll see huge changes. I want to be at the forefront of that."

Bringardner recently landed a job as a line cook at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago after working at Everest, a French restaurant also in Chicago. He also did an internship with an Italian restaurant near Providence.

"You don't learn to cook in school," Bringardner says. "You learn that on the job. But nowhere does anyone teach you anything about nutrition [on the job]. You learn that in school."

The culinary nutrition degree program was started to address a need for nutrition education that was not being addressed in the industry, says Suzanne Vieira, chairwoman of the department.

"The industry is stuck between a rock and a hard place," she says. "There is a perceived value in supersizing. That word didn't even exist years ago. But now we have supersized people."

Vieira has seen her students go on to become registered dietitians. Others have taken jobs in industry test kitchens or in product research and design. Some have become chefs in health-care facilities or spas and resorts, while others are trying to use what they've learned in restaurants.

Looking to generate interest in both the culinary arts and nutrition in future students, J&W has held its recipe contest for high-school students for the past 14 years. Entrants are asked to follow guidelines established by the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. In addition, this year the university introduced a similar contest geared to middle-school students.

This year Candace Burciaga of San Jose, Calif., also received a four-year scholarship for the best healthful dessert -- caramelized, fruit-topped tartlettes with amaretto sabayon and raspberry and blueberry sauces.

Culinary students at J&W as well as other schools around the country study nutrition and learn ways to reduce fat and animal protein in recipes without sacrificing flavor and taste -- skills that are rising in demand along with consumer demand for more healthful choices.

About 61 percent of the population is overweight, says Marianne Turow, a registered dietitian and an associate professor in hospitality management at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Turow teaches nutrition and food safety there. She also notes that childhood obesity has doubled in the last decade, and type 2 diabetes now strikes people in their 20s instead of later in life.

Turow's students take her nutritional course when they return from their internships at restaurants and hotels. They learn how to bring down the fat content of a dish through various kinds of substitutions and about available healthful grains, soy milks, nut oils and different products on the market. Students also cook in The CIA's nutritionally themed, casual fine-dining restaurant St. Andrew's Cafe.